At most companies it basically means that a manager should not have a romantic relationship with anyone in their chain of command. In the case of a CEO this would extend to the entire company.
I know it sounds punitive, but it’s really a question of fairness to every other employee working for that manager — nothing improper needs to be done by either party for it to negatively impact the other employees.
It also discourages managers from taking their pick of young staff members, and discourages any lower-level staff who might try to sleep their way to the top.
FWIW, most companies also have a reporting policy where you can report a relationship to HR and request a transfer to another department to avoid violating the policy. But that wouldn’t apply to a CEO — people in that position are simply expected to have better judgment than that.
Eh, I would say it invites just as much blackmail as it deters. Those policies add more negative consequences to the relationship being exposed — if there’s a chance you could lose your job because of a non-fraternization policy, you’ll be more motivated to pay the blackmail and keep everything under wraps.
> I know it sounds punitive, but it’s really a question of fairness to every other employee working for that manager — nothing improper needs to be done by either party for it to negatively impact the other employees.
> It also discourages managers from taking their pick of young staff members, and discourages any lower-level staff who might try to sleep their way to the top.
In addition, allowing these kinds of relationships also raises issues of sexual consent. Imagine this scenario:
CEO: Let's have sex tonight.
Employee: I'm not in the mood.
CEO: Looks like somebody's getting a bad performance review.
Oh of course; but I feel this kind of exploitation is closer to sexual assault than a consensual relationship.
Any relationship with a strong power imbalance can lead to this. Which is a big reason companies discourage this through fraternization policies; a sexual predator using your company as a hunting ground is a huge legal risk.
I was more referring to the situation where someone is working under say, a senior VP of another department. The lower status person would have an advantage over their peers in that they would have many more opportunities for personal social interactions with senior leadership as a result of their romantic relationship.
I know it sounds punitive, but it’s really a question of fairness to every other employee working for that manager — nothing improper needs to be done by either party for it to negatively impact the other employees.
It also discourages managers from taking their pick of young staff members, and discourages any lower-level staff who might try to sleep their way to the top.
FWIW, most companies also have a reporting policy where you can report a relationship to HR and request a transfer to another department to avoid violating the policy. But that wouldn’t apply to a CEO — people in that position are simply expected to have better judgment than that.